New and Noteworthy: Vista vs. Mac OS X -- who comes out on top?; Mac OS X on a PlayStation 3? "Oh please..."; more

Vista vs. Mac OS X -- who comes out on top? eWeek speculates on whether Microsoft's Windows Vista or Apple's next release of Mac OS X (Leopard) will win out on a feature-by-feature basis. eWeek notes Microsoft's borrowing of several user interface elements from Mac OS X for Vista: "Even some of Vista's icons are amazingly similar to those in Tiger. For instance, there's the interface names, Apple's Aqua and Microsoft's Aero. In Vista, 'My Documents' and 'My Computer' are now 'Computer' and 'Documents,' as they are in Mac OS X. The search icon in the Vista beta is almost identical to Tiger's Spotlight icon, except that the magnifying glass turns the other way. Vista buttons and other interface details have a shiny bulbous look similar to those in Mac OS X." More.

Apple's top-shelf hardware 'simply superb' The Advertiser has a review of Apple's Power Mac G5 Dual 2.7 GHz from a graphic/video production perspective. "It is basically a real-time experience on all fronts ? color correction, transitions, compositing and titling. There is nothing to slow you down here. Moving out of the video editing timeline and into other components of Final Cut Studio presented more endorsements of the machine's competency. The grunt in the G5 and Tiger's graphics architecture supports real-time editing-rendering of motion graphics in Motion, and real-time rendering of complex effects using LiveType." More.

Mac OS X on a PlayStation 3? "Oh please..." Macworld's Peter Cohen downplays speculation that Mac OS X will be able to run on Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 console. "But while the Cell processor certainly shares a common heritage with IBM?s hardware, that doesn't mean the Cell processor itself is a plug-and-play replacement for a PowerPC processor. Apple has never indicated or even intimated that the Cell processor can run Mac OS X, or that the Cell will be suited any better for Mac OS X than any other processor is. In fact, Apple?s notoriously secretive about its future hardware development, and for it to make any comment about the Cell would be extremely out of character. Absent of any hard evidence to support the idea that the Cell processor is a good fit for Mac OS X, it?s sheer speculation to assume that the Cell processor can even run Mac OS X. And while it?s conceivable that whoever wrote that copy for Sony magazine may be privy to some knowledge about the Cell processor that the public isn?t ? it is a Sony publication, after all ? I think it?s very unlikely that they can speak unequivocally for the CPU's ability to run Mac OS X." More.

Trying to duplicate iLife on a Windows PC InformIT notes the difficulty in attempting to replicate Apple's iLife suite on a Windows PC. "Garage Band is the one tool that is hard to replicate directly on the Windows platform because the product is so unique. With Garage Band, you can record up to four live tracks from performers (such as the two vocals, lead guitar, and drums). Each element is placed in its own layer that you can modify and even create sheet music for." More.

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